*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

* All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen

8:15 PM     Brothers From acclaimed director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot) comes this powerful story of two siblings who are polar opposites and the series of unexpected events that shake the foundation of their family dynamic. A decorated Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is a steadfast and beloved family man married to his high school sweetheart (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two children. His charismatic younger brother Tommy is the family black sheep, a drifter fresh out of prison. Shortly after Sam ships out to Afghanistan, the Cahill family receives shocking news and Tommy finds himself assuming new-found responsibilities that lead to a situation with unsettling consequences. (USA, 110 min., R, Print courtesy of Lionsgate) See our CineFiles to view trailer and more film info. Special Thanks to The Aspen Times

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

*All screenings at Harris Concert Hall, Aspen.

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The Filmmaker

JEAN-MARC VALLÉE - Director
Montreal filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée made his ground-breaking feature debut with Liste Noire (Black List), in 1995. The strikingly stylish erotic thriller was a first for its genre in Quebec cinema, and was honored with nine Genie Award nominations. Ten years later, he returned to French-language features with the internationally acclaimed hit, C.R.A.Z.Y. Blending a beguiling coming-of-age tale with a magical ode to outsiders of all ages, the powerful yet poignant C.R.A.Z.Y.’s  intensely personal story embraces universal themes. The picture became a phenomenon: distributed in over fifty countries and winning some twenty international festival awards – including the prestigious "Best Canadian Film" prize at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, 11 Genie Awards, 15 Jutra Awards, and the Golden Reel Award as Canada’s top-performer at the domestic box office.

Jean-Marc has also flirted with Hollywood (Strangers -1996, Los Locos -1997), as well as completing the first two installments of his short film trilogy devoted to father-son relationships; a theme very close to the filmmaker’s heart. Les Fleurs magiques (Magical Flowers, 1995) and Les Mots magiques (Magical Words, 1998) are individual pieces unified by a dream-like quality, and an eye for their subjects that is both tender, and tortured. Both shorts were awarded numerous festival prizes at home, and abroad.

Timeline of Queen Victoria's Life

1819 - Victoria, daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield, is born at Kensington Palace on May 24th.

1837 - On June 20th, Victoria, at age 18, becomes Queen of England, succeeding her uncle William IV.

1837 - Prince Albert writes a letter to his cousin, the Queen of England.

1838 - Victoria is crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 28th.

1840 - Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on February 10th.

1840 - Princess Victoria is born - first child.

1841 - Prince Albert Edward Wettin is born - second child and future King of England.

1842 - Attempted assassination of Queen Victoria.

1843 - Princess Alice Maude Mary is born - third child.

1844 - Prince Alfred Ernest Albert is born - fourth child.

1846 - Princess Helena Augusta Victoria is born - fifth child.

1848 - Princess Louise Caroline Alberta is born - sixth child.

1850 - Prince Arthur William Patrick is born - seventh child.

1851 - Great Exhibition opens in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.

1853 - Prince Leopold George Duncan is born - eighth child.

1857 - Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria is born - ninth child.

1857 - Parliament gives Albert the title of Prince Consort.

1861 - Prince Albert dies of typhoid fever at age 42.

1863 - Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Alexandra of Denmark.

1877 - Victoria becomes Empress of India.

1887 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee, 40th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

1897 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

1901 - The death of Queen Victoria at Osborne House, Isle of Wight on January 22nd. She was 81.

Queen Elizabeth II is the oldest reigning monarch and currently the 3rd longest reigning monarch in over 1,300 years of English History.  She will have to reign until 2012 to reign longer than George III, 59 years from 1760-1820, and until 9th Sept 2015 when she will be 89 years old to better Victoria's record and become the longest reigning monarch.  Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years and 216 days from 1837-1901 is Queen Elizabeth II’s great great grandmother.  Queen Victoria is also the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Queen Elizabeth II’s husband) great great grandmother.  The Duke’s great grandmother was Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice.

Filmography

C.R.A.Z.Y. - Director, Writer (writer) – 2005               
Loser Love – Director - 1999                   
Magical Words (short) – Director - 1998                    
Los Locos - Director, Editor - 1997                    
Liste noire - Director, Editor - 1995     
Les fleurs magiques (short) - Director, Writer (writer) - 1995     

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

The Filmmaker

ANTHONY GEFFEN (Director, Producer) has spent the last 25 years making documentary films around the globe. He spent 10 years at the BBC before founding Atlantic Productions in 1992, where he continues to direct and produce films. His films have won and been nominated for numerous major awards, including several Emmys, BAFTAs, and prizes at the New York and Chicago film festivals. His many credits include the Emmy-winning feature-length documentary Jerusalem: City of Heaven, narrated by Liam Neeson, and the acclaimed BBC/PBS drama documentary Hirohito: Behind The Myth. He also produced the landmark five-hour BBC/Discovery series The Promised Land, narrated by Morgan Freeman, which was based on the best-selling book by Nicholas Lemann about the Great Black Migration across America, and which was listed by Time Magazine among the top ten programmes of the year and won numerous awards. Geffen’s BBC/PBS documentary The Rise and Fall of the Ceausescus, was also nominated for an Emmy for Best Documentary, and his Discovery/Channel 4 documentary Munich: Mossad’s Revenge, was nominated for a BAFTA documentary award. Geffen’s other credits include the observational documentary The Faces of Arafat (BBC/PBS), the feature-length drama documentary Richard The Lionheart & Saladin: Holy Warriors (BBC/PBS) and The Link (BBC/History/ZDF), a documentary special with Sir David Attenborough; and the five-hour series The American Dream (BBC/Discovery) and The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization (BBC/PBS), an acclaimed and highly rated three-hour series narrated by Liam Neeson. The Wildest Dream is Geffen’s first theatrical-release feature.

Director’s Statement

“I saw a patch of white that was whiter than the snow…I realized that this wasn't a body from recent times; it was something that had been there for quite a while.”
- Conrad Anker, 1999

The seeds for The Wildest Dream were planted long before director Anthony Geffen began filming Conrad Anker’s treacherous, history-making ascent of the world’s tallest mountain. Geffen says British explorer George Mallory loomed large in his boyhood imagination and his fascination with the adventurer was rekindled after Geffen moved to Los Angeles as a young man and worked under legendary movie mogul and accomplished mountaineer Frank Wells. A top executive at both Warner Bros. and Disney, Wells came close to achieving his goal of climbing the “Seven Summits”—the highest mountain of each of the seven continents. Wells reached six of the seven peaks, and although bad weather forced his climbing party back before they could summit the 29,029-foot Mount Everest, he retained a fascination with the mountain, which was contagious.

“He sparked my interest in Mallory and Everest again,” Geffen recalls. “One day, after we’d been talking about climbing, he called me into his office and said that I had to make a film about Everest. I knew I didn’t want to make an ordinary climbing film, or a straight drama or documentary about Mallory. It would have to be something different.”

Decades later, in 2004, Geffen came across the book The Lost Explorer while stuck at the airport in Washington, D.C. Co-written by acclaimed mountaineer Conrad Anker, the book tells the story of how in 1999 Anker found Mallory’s remarkably preserved body high in the “death zone” on Everest. Geffen was hooked by the first few pages and read the entire book right there in the airport.

“I knew this was my film,” Geffen says. “I wanted it to be a personal story, and I wanted Conrad to go back in Mallory’s footsteps, to bring alive his journey for a modern audience. In some ways Mallory’s story is a very modern one. We all have aspirations and wildest dreams. I knew the film was in many ways a love story and a story about people pursuing their dreams. Before the flight back to London had taken off, I’d got Conrad’s number from a contact in New York and made the call.”

Anker, who has been described by Outside magazine as the world’s greatest adventurer, says he’s been approached by several people to work on this film in the past. But he was deeply impressed by Geffen’s work as a filmmaker and recalls that, as the two of them talked about the project in 2004 and 2005, a shared vision emerged for what they wanted to accomplish. “To do a film of the highest possible quality that would really honor Mallory. That was our basic goal,” Anker says.

For both men, the inspiration for the project was largely George Mallory himself.  “I like the fact that he wasn’t just a climber,” Anker says. “He was this person of depth and character and he reflected the times in which he lived. Perhaps naïvely, I see myself that way.”  “This isn’t just a film about conquering a mountain,” Geffen adds. “Mallory himself is fascinating. He’s a fearless explorer, but also a writer, and very much in love with his wife, Ruth. I was fascinated by their relationship. … I wasn’t just interested in answering the question, ‘Did he or didn’t he make it to the top?’”

About the Climbers

CONRAD ANKER ranks as one of today’s leading mountaineers and explorers. He has taken part in many films and co-wrote the best-selling The Lost Explorer. Described as “the world’s greatest adventurer” by Outside magazine, Anker has climbed such technically challenging terrain as the Karakoram Himalayas, the Khumbu Himalayas, Baffin Island, Alaska, Antarctica and Patagonia. On several occasions he was the first climber to reach the summit of treacherous peaks that defied dozens of attempts. In 1999, Anker was part of an expedition that set out with the specific aim of finding the body of famed British explorer George Mallory, who had vanished on Mount Everest in 1924. Many had tried before, without success, but on the morning of May 1, Anker discovered Mallory’s frozen remains, a find that caused a sensation and world headlines. For Anker, it only deepened a long-held obsession with Mallory’s mysterious disappearance.

LEO HOULDING is a young British climber from the north of England who has set a blazing trail through the climbing world with bold ascents, audacious stunts and ambitious firsts around the world. Described by British broadcaster and journalist Jeremy Clarkson as “one of the 20 best climbers ever to have lived,” Houlding specializes in speed climbing up to the summit and base-jumping back down. As well as appearing on Clarkson’s popular BBC TV show “Top Gear,” on which he raced Clarkson up the face of the Verdon Gorge in southeastern France while Clarkson drove, Houlding has free climbed the El Niño route in Yosemite and, in 2005, he completed the first free ascent of the Casserato pillar on Fitzroy in Patagonia in a 56-hour alpine-style push.

Filmography

Helena: First Pilgrim to the Holy Land (video) – Producer - 2003         
Charlotte Church Live from Jerusalem (video) – Producer - 2001              
Dream a Dream: Charlotte Church in the Holy Land (video documentary) – Producer - 2000

More Links

Official Film Website

New York Times Article

Background Information

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The Filmmaker

Matt Tyrnauer (Director/Producer) was born in Los Angeles and studied film at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. For sixteen years he has been an editor and writer for Vanity Fair magazine, where he is Special Correspondent. His feature articles for Vanity Fair include profiles of Martha Stewart (the August 2005 post-prison cover story, and a 2001 profile), Valentino Garavani, Siegfried and Roy, Tommy Hilfiger, Philippe Starck, Frank Gehry, green design pioneer William McDonough, producer Robert Evans, actor Greg Kinnear, and writer Bret Easton Ellis.

This is Tyrnauer’s first film, yet filmmaking - in university - and film studies have long been part of his life. His childhood and early education were steeped in movies. His father was a successful TV writer and producer, responsible for scripting some of the best-known programs on TV, such as “Colombo,” “The Virginian” and “Murder, She Wrote”, which his father produced.

Tyrnauer attended Crossroads School in Los Angeles, where the academic program was among the first in the nation to include serious film studies at the secondary school level. As a result, he was exposed to movies by Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, Rossellini, Bresson and many others at an early age. At Wesleyan University, he apprenticed under the film professor, Joseph W. Reed, a pioneer in American film scholarship. Tyrnauer aided Reed in his research on American masters John Ford, Howard Hawks, Michael Curtiz and Robert Aldrich. Tyrnauer’s honors thesis was an in depth analysis of the films of Robert Aldrich, his favorite director.

Tyrnauer’s journalism career began at Spy magazine. Graydon Carter, the co-founder of Spy, then hired Tyrnauer to write for him when Carter was editor of the New York Observer. In 1992, Tyrnauer edited the special edition of the New York Observer for the Democratic Convention in New York City. Later in 1992, Tyrnauer followed Graydon Carter to Vanity Fair, where he has worked ever since, as Editor-at-Large and author of major feature stories. He lives in New York City.

Director’s Statement
I approached the story of Valentino from a journalistic standpoint, but soon after we began shooting, I discovered that direct cinema (the filmmaking style pioneered by the great Maysles brothers) would be much more powerful than any of the traditional "information seeking" practices a journalist usually employs.  Valentino as a man, and a character, is bigger than life. When we rolled the dailies, we immediately saw that Valentino is a born movie star. He has a very engaging cinematic presence, yet he is unselfconscious of his actions. He plays himself 24/7, and he does a masterful job.

The story of this movie unfolds in the scenes between Valentino and his longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, an inseparable pair that together redefined the business of fashion, and, as I think becomes clear in the film, created a new definition of human partnership by becoming closer than any spouses could ever be. They are a part of the same person, or so it has seemed to many observers who know them much better than I.

The film was in production from June 2005 to July 2007, and we shot over 250 hours of footage with unprecedented access to Valentino and his extended family. When we screened all the raw footage before starting to edit, we were pleased to find we had more than a fashion movie on our hands. The result, I hope, is an engaging and entertaining portrait of an extraordinary partnership, the longest running in fashion, and a dramatic story about a master confronting the final act of his celebrated career. The movie, in certain ways—thanks almost entirely to its stars—plays more like a feature film than a documentary. What started as a journalistic inquiry, in the end, revealed a unique love story with the world of fashion as a backdrop.

Background Information

About Valentino Garavani

Over the last 45 years, Valentino’s work has come to represent a phenomenon in the history of fashion.  No other great designer has achieved such creative and entrepreneurial longevity, always maintaining the spirit and true strength of the company that bore his name.

Born in Voghera (Italy), Valentino is one of the most important couturiers and innovators in fashion. From his memorable march to the Pitti Palace in 1962 to the Legion d' Honneur bestowed upon him by the President of the French Republic and the Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres in 2005, to his honorary Parisian citizenship - the Medaille de Ville de Paris – granted to him by the Mayor Bertrand Delanoë in 2007, his 45 years of creativity defines the very essence of Made in Italy. His name is an international symbol of elegance and imagination, timelessness and beauty.

At the beginning, some 60 years ago, after studying in Paris at the school of the Chambre Syndicale de the Couture Parisienne under the tutelage of Jean Desses and Guy Laroche, Valentino moved to Rome to open his first fashion workshop. It is here that he met Giancarlo Giammetti, who became his associate and took care of the business strategies for the shop.

These are the first years of the “Sweet Life”. Valentino’s star began to rise as word spread of a new, brilliant creator of fashion in Rome. In 1968’s “White Collection,” Valentino first used his monogram as a decorative element on his dresses and accessories, beginning what would become “logomania.”

Valentino was the first Italian designer to launch Prêt-à-porter collections, opening boutiques all over the world in the 70’s and 80’s and creating advertising campaigns using internationally renowned photographers.

In February of 1990, Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti founded, with a contribution from Liz Taylor, L.I.F.E., a charity for children infected with HIV. 

At the beginning of the 1990s, the first 30 years of Valentino’s career were celebrated with a series of spectacular events. “Valentino: Thirty Years of Magic” was staged at the Palazzo Mignanelli, Valentino headquarters. A year later, the show came to New York, representing Italy during the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. More than 70,000 people came to show during its first two weeks.

In 2001, Julia Roberts accepted an Oscar wearing vintage Valentino, contributing to the launch of what went on to become one of the most significant fashion trends of the coming years: the Vintage.

In July of 2007, Valentino celebrated his 45 in the industry. The event took place in Rome, with a grand retrospective show at the Ara Pacis Museum, an exceptional haute couture parade and gala, accommodated in some of the most prestigious and evocative places in the capital, thanks to the sponsorship of the Comune di Roma, the Ministry of Assets and Cultural Activities, and the Presidency of the Republic.

The celebration brought the friends and collaborators of Valentino together with the most important journalists and fashion designers of the world, resulting in unprecedented media coverage. Aristocrats and others arrived in Rome in order to celebrate Valentino. This included: Shabanou of Iran, Miller and Pavlos of Greece, Ernst and Caroline of Hannover; colleagues and friends such as Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Ford; and movie and music stars such as Uma Thurman, Sienna Miller, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Rupert Everett, Mick Jagger, Jennifer Hudson, and Eva Mendes.

In accordance with the celebrations, the city of Rome announced its desire to dedicate a museum to Valentino, a headquarters for a permanent collection of dresses, designs and materials from the archives, and also as a series of formatted initiatives for new professionals of Haute Couture and of fashion. The creative history of Valentino and his work – a symbol of Rome and its cultural life since the end of 50s – has become a legacy. The search for perfection and beauty had its beginning in Valentino and will never end.

About Giancarlo Giammetti

In the 1960’s, Giancarlo Giammetti interrupted his architectural studies in order to become Valentino’s associate. He took care of all strategic aspects of management and communication, quickly asserting himself as the co-craftsman of the brand’s fortune in the world, and as a true innovator of the fashion system. He introduced prêt-à-porter in Italy, sealed innovative license contracts, and studied new advertising strategies, constructing campaigns with the most important names in fashion photography.

He communicates Valentino to the world not only as an expressive individual and a great couturier, but also as a leader of the creative world. A style of the cultured and luxurious life that he himself - “the creative shadow of another creative”, as he’s been called, defines – embodies the Valentino brand.

In the ’90s Giammetti founded the Valentino Academy with Valentino, marking the first collaborative agreement between fashion and public administration, with a convention with the Comune di Roma to accommodate events destined to increase the city’s cultural prestige. With the couturier and the support of Elizabeth Taylor, he founded LIFE (Lottare: to fight, Informare: to inform, Formare: to form, Educare: to educate), an association to support children afflicted with AIDS.

Foreseeing the challenges of the 21st century, Giammetti strengthens the competitiveness of the Valentino brand on the worldwide market by signing the first agreement in Italy between fashion and finance in 1998. From that moment on, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, lacking direct heirs, determined the creative continuity of their brand, the world that they created.

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview - Matt Tyrnauer's Tale of Empire, Interview Magazine

"Valentino: The Last Emperor" Director Matt Tyrnauer: "I Learned To View Couture As An Art"

Charlie Rose Interview - A conversation about the film "Valentino: The Last Emperor" with Italian fashion designer Valentino, Giancarlo Giammetti and director Matt Tyrnauer

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The Filmmaker

Scott Teems is a writer/director born and raised in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

His screenplay for That Evening Sun previously won the Emerging Narrative Screenplay Award at the IFP Market, and the film marks his feature directorial debut.

Previous writing and directing credits include A Death in the Woods, which won the Kathryn Tucker Windham Storytelling Award at the Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival, as well as several short films that have screened at film festivals across North America. Scott is also a successful commercial director, helming popular viral video campaigns for corporations such as IBM, Cisco, KB Home, and the Walt Disney Company. Scott presently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and children.

Director’s Statement
I believe the pursuit of truth must be my ultimate goal as a filmmaker, if I'm to have any chance to use cinema for its deepest and most profound purposes. Purposes of transcendence and connection, abstraction and release. Or even just to tell a simple, satisfying story in an hour and fifty minutes. But the truth can be a scary proposition, because it is illuminating. It is raw and unfiltered. It shows our scars. But it also shows our beauty, our grace, our unknown holiness. It is through this lens of truth that I try to look at everything, including my homeland, the American South. That Evening Sun is, proudly and without reservation, a film about the South. For better or for worse.

The South, and Southern characters in general, continue to be woefully misrepresented in much of American cinema. Accent is mistaken for character; dirty jeans for a dumb brain. If only things were so simple. But the road of complaint is a dead end. I can only continue my search for what is honest and true about this place where I’m from, this place that made me who I am. The South is a vibrant and valuable part of this country; one which deserves to be properly and thoroughly explored by its own sons and daughters.

Yet I hope that this is so much more than a film about the South. I hope it’s a film about men. About fathers and sons, husbands and wives. About grieving. About not grieving. About land and class. About right and wrong. And about how it’s rarely a simple task to tell the difference. And I hope it’s about a badass old man who looks death in the eye and says, ‘Go to Hell. I’ve got some living left to do.

Filmography

Looking Up Dresses (short) - Very Special Thanks - 2008                   
A Death in the Woods (short) - Director, Writer (screenplay), Editor - 2007        
Le Chase (short) - Director, Editor - 2006                   
Root (short) - Director, Writer (story and screenplay) – 2004

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

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The Filmmaker

TOM FORD  [Director, Writer, Producer]
Tom Ford was born in Austin, Texas on August 27, 1961. He was raised in Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ford attended New York University and Parsons School of Design where he studied art history and architecture. Tom Ford is best known for his work as a fashion designer and is credited with reviving the fashion houses of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent through influential collections and provocative advertising campaigns that turned Gucci Group into one of the largest and most profitable luxury fashion conglomerates in the world. Ford left Gucci Group in 2004 and founded his film production company, FADE TO BLACK, as well as his eponymous fashion company in 2005. Tom Ford’s success in the fashion industry has been recognized by numerous awards including: five awards from the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America [CFDA], five VH-1/Vogue Fashion Awards and the Fashion Design Achievement Award at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum’s National Design Awards. In March 2007, Tom Ford was honored with the Vito Russo Award from GLAAD. Ford lives in London and Los Angeles.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I first read the book “A Single Man” by Christopher Isherwood in the early 1980s and was moved by the honesty and simplicity of the story. At that time, I was in my early twenties. Three years ago, after searching for the right project to develop as my first film it occurred to me that I often thought of this novel and it’s protagonist, “George.” I picked it up and read it again. Now in my late forties, the book resonated with me in an entirely different way. It is a deeply spiritual story, of one day in the life of a man who cannot see his future. It is a universal tale of coming to terms with the isolation that we all feel, and of the importance of living in the present and understanding that the small things in life are really the big things in life.     – Tom Ford

Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

Director Interview – Out

New York Times Article

WWD Interview

indieWIRE Interview with Tom Ford

Director Interview (London Film Festival) Video

Tom Ford, A Single Man Q&A Session at Toronto International Film Festival

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The Filmmaker

John Hillcoat grew up in America, Canada and Britain. A career in Fine Arts led to enrollment at Swinburne Film School in Australia, where he produced two celebrated short dramas, The Blonde's Date With Death and Frankie and Johnny. He went on to a successful career directing and editing music videos for such artists as Nick Cave, INXS, Crowded House, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Muse and Razorlight, for which he won several international awards and an Australian Recording Industry Award for Best Director.

After three years researching maximum-security prisons in America and Australia, John co-wrote and directed his first feature film Ghosts...of the Civil Dead. The film was nominated for nine Australian Film Institute Awards.  His follow-up film, released in 1998, To Have and to Hold is set in the jungle of Papua New Guinea and stars Tcheky Karyo and Rachel Griffiths.

John's third feature film The Proposition stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt and Emily Watson. The film is an Australian Western set in remote outback Australia and was released in 2006. It was nominated for twelve Australian Film Institute Awards and won four. It was also nominated for nine IF Awards (The People's Choice Awards) and won four including Best Film. The movie went on to win numerous other international awards.

In addition to The Road Hillcoat is also in development on Joe Petrosino, with Pete Dexter writing for Anonymous Content and Summit Entertainment, with Benicio Del Toro attached; The Wettest County in the World, with Nick Cave writing for Red Wagon and Sony Pictures; and MOB COPS, with Terence Winter writing for Spring Creek and 2929 Productions.

Filmography

The Proposition – Director - 2005    
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Babe, I'm on Fire (video short) – Director - 2003
To Have and to Hold - Director, Writer (story and screenplay) - 1996    
Live at the Paradiso (video) – Editor - 1992                  
Ghosts...of the Civil Dead - Director, Writer (written by) - 1988    

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

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Interview with Filmmaker Lee Daniels from indieWIRE (January 8, 2009)

Please introduce yourself… I grew up in the inner city in Philadelphia. I was the oldest of five children, each about a year apart, and my mother, bless her heart, had her hands full. My father, a police officer, was shot and killed trying to break up a robbery when I was 13. I can not even imagine where my life was headed, when through luck and maybe a little manipulation from my incredible mother, I began to attend a prestigious prep school in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Education changed my life and I am forever grateful for that experience and to my many wonderful teachers. Obviously, education is an important theme in my film and one I personally relate to on every level. In high school, I lobbied hard for the part of Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music and convinced my drama teacher that a black student could do this role. That took a lot of fast talking! (And that was also something that left an lasting impression on me; namely that roles should be cast based on talent and not color.) I definitely caught the acting bug, but that lasted for about two seconds when I found my way to LA and found that my talents were better suited behind the cameras.

What were the circumstances that lead you to become a filmmaker? In LA, I was a talent manager for many years. I represented many African-American actors. After a while, I became disheartened over the shortage of roles for African Americans. I decided I was going to do something about it by producing my own films that included meaningful and compelling roles for black actors. So, I jumped into producing with my first film Monster’s Ball.

While I am not a musician, I love music. I have over 15,000 songs on my ipod. Everything from hard core rap to the soundtrack from the original Cinderella. I believe my love for music has made me partial to working with musicians in my films. I find musicians to be wonderfully talented and soulful. I think you will also find that my broad range of musical interests finds its way into many of my films.

How did you learn the “craft” of filmmaking?
I did not go to film school. I learned by spending hundreds of hours on sets with the actors I was managing and watching and listening. One of my greatest joys in filmmaking is working with the actors and I use to run lines endlessly with them to perfect their performance prior to their auditions.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in developing the project?
Why would anyone care about a poor, 300-pound, uneducated black girl as dark as night? The answer to this question is what this film is ultimately about. Two of the first people who did care are my incredible producers, Sarah-Siegel Magness and Gary Magness who have contributed immeasurably to bringing this film to light.

How do you define success as a filmmaker, and what are your personal goals as a filmmaker?
To make movies that are honest and real and show the full range of human emotions and the human condition. To breakdown color barriers both in front of the screen and behind cameras so that hopefully one day people will not say someone was “unbelievable” in a film simply because of the color of the actor’s skin.

What are your future projects?
I am still searching for this answer. My family and friends want me to direct a big studio action movie; my boyfriend wants me to make a musical; my investors have expressed interest in a childrens’s movie; but I do not know.

Filmography

Tennessee - Producer - 2008
Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet (documentary) - Thanks - 2008
Shadowboxer - Producer, Director
Man in Steam Room - 2005
Agnes and His Brothers - Henry Preminger - 2004
The Woodsman - Producer - 2004
Grand Theft Parsons - Special Thanks - 2003
Monster's Ball - Producer - 2001
A Little Off Mark (short) - Steve, Mark's best friend - 1986

Paula Patton Biography - Recipient of Aspen Film's Artist to Watch Award at Aspen Filmfest 2009

Paula Patton (Ms. Rain) emerged as an unforgettable talent with her leading roles in the Tony Scott film Deja Vu and the original musical Idlewild. In Deja Vu, Paula starred opposite Denzel Washington and Jim Caviezel.

In 2008, Paula appeared in the thriller, Mirrors opposite Kiefer Sutherland. The film tells the story of a mall security guard (Sutherland) who becomes wrapped up in a mystery involving a particular department store's mirrors which seem to bring out the worst in people. Paula plays the wife of Sutherland's character. Paula also appeared in Swing Vote, a light-hearted political satire alongside industry veterans Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer.

In August 2006, Patton was seen in the original musical Idlewild, in which she stars among an impressive cast including: Outkast's Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton, Terrence Howard, Ving Rhames and Patti LaBelle. The musical, set in the Prohibition-era American South, is directed by Bryan Barber and produced by Charles Roven. Paula plays a diva from St. Louis who travels to Idlewild and with the help of Andre Benjamin's character as her piano man, the two develop a stage act as well as a love affair. Paula was previously seen in Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy, Hitch, in which she co-starred opposite Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James.

Paula grew up in Los Angeles, attending the Hamilton School for the Performing Arts. Paula always had a passion for acting as well as film making; upon graduating from high school she was chosen as one of four young filmmakers for a documentary series for PBS titled: "The Ride," which followed the four filmmakers as they directed their own documentary films about young people across America. After spending her freshman year of college at UC Berkeley, with an increasing passion for filmmaking, Paula transferred to the prestigious USC Film School, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Upon graduation, she began doing various production assistant work, and eventually worked her way up to shooting and producing a show titled: "Medical Diaries" for The Discovery Channel. When the show was completed, Paula realized her love of acting and immediately enrolled in acting classes, and after a year of studying she decided to pursue a career in professional acting. Paula resides in Los Angeles.

More Links

Official Film Website

Lee Daniels Interview, O Magazine

LEE DANIELS directing on the set of PRECIOUS

New York Times Article

Interview with Gaby Sidibe

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The Filmmaker

ROB MARSHALL / Director, Producer, Choreographer
Rob Marshall is director of the Academy Award winning films CHICAGO and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.  For his work on CHICAGO, winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, Marshall received the Director’s Guild Award, an Oscar nomination, a Golden Globe Award nomination, a BAFTA nomination, The National Board of Review Award and the NY Film Critics Online Award, both for best directorial debut, as well as the American Choreography Award.  MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA was the winner of three Oscars, three BAFTA Awards, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

Marshall’s most recent credit was the NBC television special he executive produced, directed and choreographed: TONY BENNETT: AN AMERICAN CLASSIC. He won his second Director’s Guild Award for this production and three Emmy Awards for Direction, Choreography, and Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. He directed and choreographed Disney/ABC’s critically acclaimed movie musical ANNIE, which received 12 Emmy nominations and won the prestigious Peabody Award.  For his work he received an Emmy for Choreography and an American Choreography Award.

A six-time Tony Award nominee and George Abbott Award winner, Marshall co-directed and choreographed the world-wide award-winning production of “Cabaret” and directed and choreographed the Broadway revival of “Little Me,” starring Martin Short.  He made his Broadway choreographic debut with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” directed by Harold Prince, which also played London’s West End and Vienna. He followed that with productions of “She Loves Me”: Broadway, London; “Damn Yankees”: Broadway, National Tour, London; Blake Edwards’ “Victor/Victoria”: Broadway; “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”: Broadway; “Company”: Broadway; and “The Petrified Prince”: NY Public Theater and “Promises, Promises”: City Center Encores!  Additional choreography credits include the feature film THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, the Disney/ABC movie musical CINDERELLA (Emmy nomination), the CBS movie musical MRS. SANTA CLAUS (Emmy nomination), and THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS (Kander & Ebb and Chita Rivera tributes).

He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Filmography

Memoirs of a Geisha – Director - 2005    
Chicago - Director, Choreographer – 2002

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

Video Montage

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The Filmmaker

Oren Moverman was about to leave for Berlin to direct a feature film that suddenly fell apart three days before shooting, leaving him open for another directorial assignment. After initially refusing the offer to direct The Messenger, insisting that an established director make the film, Moverman agreed to take the helm of his own screenplay. “I wanted a great humanist to make this movie — I thought it was too important in terms of its subject matter to give to a first-timer like myself,” Moverman confesses. “But Lawrence Inglee told me to shut up and just do it, so I accepted the job. Writing for me is putting the film on paper but directing is putting it on film — it has the same concerns, the same issues and the same problems as the writing process, only a different set of limitations. And more people standing around checking their watches.”

Born in Israel, Oren moved to New York to work in film in 1988 after completing four years of military service as an infantry soldier. He co-wrote Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, starring Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Oren also collaborated with Ira Sachs on Married Life, starring Rachel McAdams, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnen and Patricia Clarkson, and on The Goodbye People, currently casting. Oren penned Interrupted about legendary director Nicholas Ray, for City Lights Pictures with Phillip Kaufman directing, and William Burroughs’ Queer for actor/director Steve Buscemi.  Both films are currently casting for a 2009 shoot. Oren served as screenwriter of Face, an Indican release, starring Bai Ling, Treach and Kristy Wu.  Directed by Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, Face premiered in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Oren was also a screenwriter and associate producer of Jesus' Son. Directed by Alison Maclean, the film stars Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Jack Black, Holly Hunter & Dennis Hopper.  The Messenger is his first film as a director.

Director’s Statement

This film is not about casualties of war, really, it’s more concerned with the people left behind who have to deal with life after the casualties of war have gone away. The Messenger may say a thing or two about war, but ultimately it’s about the desire to live; to let life into the darkness and to laugh, even. It shows that there are people who have to deal with war in a way that is not strategic or political, but personal.

"This war that has no end in sight — how you address something like an unjust war as an artist is a tricky thing,” Harrelson concludes. You can come right out and say how wrong the war is. But what about the people involved in the war, over here and over there? They deserve our support. That’s the great line that this movie crosses. It supports the soldiers wholeheartedly. I tip my hat to the Army for getting behind it and encouraging people to see it rather than trying to sweep it under the rug.

Filmography

More Links

Official Film Website

Director Interview

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The Filmmaker

PETER JACKSON (DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY/PRODUCER) 
Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously.  The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, including 17 Academy Awards®, 12 British Academy of Film and Television Awards and four Golden Globes.

It was for The Return of the King that Jackson received his most impressive collection of awards.  This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Audience Award), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.

As a follow-up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005 Jackson directed, wrote and produced King Kong for Universal Pictures.  The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®.

Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay.  Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn.  Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit.

This past summer, Jackson produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9.  He is currently serving as producer on Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, the first of a planned trilogy, one of which he plans to direct.  He has co-written the screenplays and will serve as executive producer on Guillermo del Toro’s two-film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  He is also producer of the remake of the WWII film Dambusters.

Born in New Zealand on Halloween in 1961, Jackson began at an early age making movies with his parents’ Super 8 camera.  At 17, he left school and, after purchasing a 16mm camera, began shooting a science fiction comedy short which, three years later, had grown into a 75-minute feature called Bad Taste.

Jackson works closely with partner Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family.  Jackson has a special interest in WWI memorabilia and is the proud owner of a number of aircraft from that era.

Projects In Development
The Hobbit 2 - Executive Producer, Writer (screenplay) - 2012    
Halo - Executive Producer - 2012    
The Hobbit - Executive Producer, Writer (screenplay) - 2011    
The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure - Executive Producer, Producer  -2011    
Dambusters – Producer - 2010    
Temeraire - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director - 2009    

Filmography

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn – Producer - 2011       
The Lovely Bones - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director - 2009     
District 9 - Producer, Presenter - 2009     
Super Capers - Special Thanks - 2009     
Little Red Riding Hood (video short) - Special Thanks - 2009              
Artists of the Roundtable (video documentary) - Special Thanks - 2008         
Taste of Flesh (video) - Very Special Thanks - 2008                   
Crossing the Line (short) - Writer (written by), Director - 2008                
Weird Science Whatever (short) - Special Thanks For Inspiration - 2008         
Hot Fuzz - With Thanks To, Thief Dressed as Santa (uncredited) - 2007     
Black Sheep – Thanks - 2006     
In the Headlights (video short) - Special Thanks - 2006                   
The Sci-Fi Boys (documentary) - Himself, Special Thanks - 2006              
King Kong - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director, Gunner - 2005     
The Lost Spider Pit Sequence (video short) – Director - 2005              
RKO Production 601: The Making of 'Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World' (video documentary) - Himself, Producer - 2005                   
Hostel - Very Special Thanks - 2005     
The World's Fastest Indian – Thanks - 2005   
I'm King Kong!: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (documentary) - Grateful Thanks -2005
The Characters of 'Star Wars' (video documentary short) - Himself - Director, 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, Special Thanks - 2004                   
The Force Is with Them: The Legacy of 'Star Wars' (video documentary short) - Himself - Director, 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, Special Thanks - 2004      
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director, Mercenary On Boat (uncredited), Executive Soundtrack Producer (uncredited) - 2003     
I'll See You in My Dreams (short) – Thanks - 2003                   
The Long and Short of It (short) - Executive Producer, Bus Driver - 2003         
The Saw Is Family: Making 'Leatherface' (video documentary short) - Special Thanks -2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director, Rohirrim Warrior (uncredited) - 2002     
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Producer, Writer (screenplay), Director, Albert Dreary (uncredited) - 2001     
The Making of 'The Frighteners' (video documentary) - Himself, Producer, Writer (writer), Director - 1998                   
Heaven - Special Thanks - 1998     
Phantoms - Special Thanks - 1998
Contact - Additional Visual Effects - 1997     
The Ugly - Special Thanks - 1997                   
The Frighteners - Producer, Writer (written by), Director, Man with Piercings (uncredited) - 1996     
Heavenly Creatures - Co-producer, Writer (screenplay), Director, Bum outside theater (uncredited) - 1994
Jack Brown Genius - Producer, Writer (writer), Second Unit Director - 1994     
Dead Alive - Writer (screenplay), Director, Undertaker's Assistant, Miniatures, Stop Motion Animator - 1992     
Valley of the Stereos (short) - Co-producer - 1992                   
Just the Feebles - Producer, Writer (writer), Director, Puppet Maker, Camera Operator -      1989         
The Lounge Bar (short) - Special Effects - 1989                   
Bad Taste - Producer, Writer (writer), Director, Derek/Robert, Special Effects, Editor, Makeup Effects, Cinematographer - 1987              
The Valley (short) - Director, Actor, Special Effects, Editor, Makeup Designer, Costume Designer - 1976                

More Links

Official Film Website

New York Times Article

USA TODAY - Director Interview - Peter Jackson - 'Lovely Bones' was lovely to make

An Emotional Journey Production Featurette

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The Filmmaker

Ken Loach - Director
“I got a message that Eric Cantona was trying to get in touch…”
It was about two or three years ago. Without him there would be no film. A very nice French producer, Pascal Caucheteux, spoke with Rebecca [O’Brien, Producer] and suggested that he and Eric and we met. Obviously we knew Eric Cantona, knew his public persona very well, and knew him as a fantastic footballer. And they knew that Paul [Laverty, Writer] and I were interested in football. So we met. Eric had a few ideas that were all very interesting, in particular a story of his relationship with one fan. Paul and I couldn’t really make that work in terms of narrative and characters and development, but we thought it was an interesting area to explore - not only the enjoyment of football and the part that football plays in people's lives, but also the notion of celebrity and how celebrities are built up in the press and on television: they have a superhuman quality in people's minds.

Paul went away with a blank sheet of paper and wrote a story that tried to bring in all these elements. There were no major misgivings about showing it to Eric because we'd met two or three times and we had a good sense of who he was: he just seemed somebody who was not reverent about himself and had a twinkle in his eye about the whole project. It was fun, rather than some heavy-handed affair. We were just hoping he would enjoy it and he was kind enough to say that he did.

Why Cantona?
He's original and bright and sharp and perceptive. He thinks a little outside the game and his jousts with journalists were always funny and witty. He's obviously a man of some substance - we knew that about him just from the way he'd been in public, from the seagulls quote both before and afterwards. As we talked to him - particularly as Paul talked to him - his thoughts on the game and on his place in it and what he tried to do and how he approached it all became part of the project.

When Eric walks in a room you really know he's there. It's true of very few people but he's a man with considerable charisma and a magnetism. Actors talk about natural projection, in that you can communicate from the stage to the back of the auditorium without apparently doing anything. Eric did that on a football field – he communicated to 70,000 people. That's an extraordinary natural ability.

In Manchester he was treated with reverence and affection. We had to keep him under wraps a bit - it's the first time I've ever had paparazzi lurking round a set. And if you were with him in the street the traffic would slow down and people would seize him by the hand.

I went to a game with him at Old Trafford. Even without knowing he was there they were singing the Cantona songs - they were singing his name when he hadn't been there for a decade. Then when they discovered he was there the roof went up. Grown men wept! As we were leaving old fellas were coming up to him shaking him by the hand. Very few players have inspired such affection.

Why Football?
I only know it as a spectator but to go to a game is very social: you meet the same, quite large group of people and what you have in common is support for the team. It's nothing to do with work, it's nothing to do with anything except the game and that wide selection of disparate people.

But the game itself is like a gymnasium for your emotions. You experience everything. Hope, joy, sorrow, grief, suspense, anguish. Delirious ecstasy when the goal goes in. It's all those things but they’re all contained in a safe framework that - I can't say, ‘it doesn't matter’ - but in the end it is only a game and in the end real life carries on. It's a huge therapeutic exercise where you have all these emotions but nevertheless they're within a safe environment.

Who is Eric Bishop, your lead character?

He's an intelligent man who suffers from panic attacks and it's really interfered with his ability to stay in a relationship. His response to it is just to put his head in the sand, go out with the lads, go to the games, have a drink and not deal with it. The consequence is his first marriage broke down.

How was the film cast?
Next to the script the casting is the most important thing. I worked with Kahleen [Crawford, Casting Director] again and we saw unknown actors, well-known actors, everybody - we just try to be as inclusive as possible. It's always important that the film is rooted somewhere specific, so we did restrict it to people from Manchester or nearby. The Eric in the film is a Manchester United supporter when most Manchester United supporters came from Manchester. So we thought it was important that he was played by a Manchester man. With Steve Evets we were able to sense that he was a man on the edge. He's also funny but not in a way that he's playing comedy: he's just being true. We look for true responses and then when somebody reveals themselves, that they reveal themselves in a way that is in line with the character. Because you can get somebody who's really brilliant - right social class, everything right - but as they reveal themselves in their performance it's something different to the character. You’ve got to find somebody who's good in all those ways but also true to the character you want on the screen.

How was Cantona himself introduced in to the action?
There was a moment! It was very elaborate. Surprise is the hardest thing to act, and Steve (Evets) had no idea - he knew that Eric Cantona was involved as a producer but he didn't know that he was in the film. On the day he was going to be in it we brought him in to the house and in to the bedroom. I said to Steve, “The light's not quite right. We're going to have to put up a bit of black to minimise the reflection. Give us ten minutes.” Steve went out for a smoke, Eric Cantona hid behind a black drape that we'd put round the camera and then we played the scene. Steve was looking towards the life-size Cantona poster and Eric slipped out and stood behind him, and spoke. Unfortunately we had some Belgian camera assistants and when Steve heard the voice he thought it was one of them speaking. So he stood there and he didn't know what to do. The first take it didn't quite work. But there was still surprise enough for the second take.

Tonally, how do you go from comic scenes to more serious moments?
You can only be truthful. And that again is down to finding people who can be truthful and naturally funny. Or truthful and naturally touching. The moment there's a sense of, ‘Now it's a comedy scene,’ and ‘Now it's a sad scene,’ it wouldn't work. That's why somebody like John's [Henshaw] a good actor. He's serious and he's funny without a change of step. Ricky Tomlinson is like that as well. He can be funny and in exactly the same mood he can be serious. That he doesn't have to change gear is the essential thing

What do you hope an audience will take from the film?
Just the fact that it's about friendship and about coming to terms with who you are. It's a film against individualism: we’re stronger as a gang than we are on our own. You can be pretentious about this but it is about the solidarity of friends, which is epitomised in a crowd of football supporters. But also where you work and the people you work alongside. Although that seems an almost trite observation, it's still not the spirit of the age. Or it hasn't been the spirit of the age for the last 30 years, where people are your competitors, not your comrades.

Cantona plays the trumpet in the film. Does he have a future as a musician?
When George Fenton recorded the music and heard Eric playing, I sent Eric a text saying, ‘The musicians are impressed but suggest you don't give up the football just yet.’ He texted back and said, ‘Maybe they think I take their work.’

Filmography

1967 Poor Cow
1969 Kes
1972 Family Life
1979 Black Jack
1977 Looks and Smiles
1986 Fatherland
1990 Hidden Agenda
1991 Riff-Raff
1993 Raining Stones
1994 Ladybird Ladybird
1995 Land and Freedom
1996 Carla’s Song
1998 My Name is Joe
2000 Bread and Roses
2001 The Navigators
2002 Sweet Sixteen
2002 11’09’01 (Short film)
2003 Ae Fond Kiss
2004 Tickets (Short film)
2006 The Wind That Shakes The Barley
2007 Happy Ending (Short film)
2007 It’s A Free World

More Links

Official Film Website

Conversation with Director Ken Loach

Interview

Onstage Interview at the British Film Institute